What about USB3.0?

The universal serial bus, known as USB, is a peripheral connection standard that was first released in 1996. The USB1.0 contains two speed levels at low and full speeds, supporting 1.5Mbps and 12Mbps data rates, respectively. The target of USB 1.0 is to unify PC's peripheral connection interface. USB 2.0 was released in 2000, with an increase in high-speed USB with a data rate of 480Mbps. This higher maximum bandwidth is responsive to growing storage trends, satisfying the larger data transfer requirements between PCs and peripherals. Up to now, there are more than 6 billion USB devices worldwide, with about 2 billion new USB devices sold each year.

The newest member of the USB series is the USB 3.0 specification, which increases the maximum data transfer rate to 5Gbps or slightly above 600mb/seconds. The USB 3.0 specification is completely backwards compatible in design and the latest SuperSpeed sstx+/-and ssrx+/-signals are compatible with the original USB 2.0 d+/d-signal, so systems that do not fully support USB 3.0 can use USB 2.0.

1, why to use USB 3.0?

The multiple value positioning offered by USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed) can make mobile handheld devices and consumer electronics much more beneficial. First, data rates up to 5Gbps or 600mb/seconds can provide sufficient bandwidth for high-performance applications. Due to the recent popularity of HD content and 3D technology, the size of the transmitted media files has increased dramatically. These trends can be reflected in the capacity values of the mass storage devices currently available, and the new handheld devices now come with up to 64GB of embedded and/or mobile memory pieces. This trend is expected to continue as more high-definition and 3D content is present.

The new embedded and mobile bulk storage standards (EMMC 4.41 and SD 3.0) define up to 2TB of capacity. In order to keep up with the growing bulk storage density, the speed of inputting and outputting content on handheld devices also needs to be increased correspondingly. Figuratively speaking, using USB 2.0 in a new generation of storage devices is like using a small rubber hose to inject water into the Olympic standard swimming pool, which takes too long. In terms of quantity, it takes about 60 seconds to transmit 1GB of data using USB 2.0, while the data for the gigabyte is more than 60 minutes. Now imagine what it would be like to use USB 2.0 to transmit 2TB of data. With the SuperSpeed USB 3.0, the transmission speed will increase 10 times times, in just a few minutes time can transfer 64GB of media data.

2, the life of the battery to consider factors

The second value of USB 3.0 is its excellent power management. USB 3.0 introduces a new power mode that allows the power of the USB link layer to be disconnected independently when the USB connection is established but not activated. These new power modes allow for more efficient use of limited battery power to power mobile devices. This protocol layer improves with faster USB 3.0 to reduce the total power consumption per byte by 80%, in cases where data is required to be accessed intermittently via USB (for example, video streaming and music playback). In addition, the low power link layer state can be automatically entered and exited, and is transparent to the upper application layer. This makes the system easier to migrate to USB 3.0.

3, Faster charge

In addition, USB 3.0 increases the amount of current a downstream USB device can extract from a traditional host, such as a PC. The current limit is upgraded from USB 2.0 to 500 MA to USB 3.0 900 MA, which is equivalent to an increase of 80% of the available power. This not only supports higher-performance applications, but also enables mobile handheld devices to charge faster batteries. For the end users who have been on the road, charging time is shortened and important, for example, the use of USB 2.0 host to an efficiency assumed to be 90% of the exhaust power of the 1400mAh battery needs more than 3 hours, and USB 3.0 only need 1.5 hours.

4, HD and 3D multimedia era

High-definition cameras and video-enabled handsets are becoming increasingly popular, and video-sharing applications such as YouTube now support HD (1080p) format. To store compressed and uncompressed HD video formats in a variety of formats, the storage density increases accordingly. Higher storage density means that the transport pipeline also needs to speed up. Users do not have the patience to wait one hours to save video on their devices to the PC for editing and sharing. USB 3.0 plays a crucial role in the production and use of the new generation of HD content.

5. Manufacturing Process: Brush machine

Given these values, USB 3.0 can support new usage patterns and improve existing usage patterns. In addition to being able to load media content at 10 times times the speed of a USB 2.0 system, one of the early USB 3.0 applications was the brush of content/code during production. The cost of making a mobile handheld device is mainly related to the time spent on the production line, and the most time-consuming part of the process is the brush-writing programming and preload content. The brush machine process is usually done by USB, and USB 2.0 is now widely used in the production line. USB 3.0 can not only be 10 times times the speed of mobile phone brush machine, but also can be used for a number of devices to brush the machine. In the end, USB 3.0 can significantly reduce manufacturing costs.

6, no controller game

With the launch of the latest gaming platforms, such as Xbox Kinect and Sony Playstation Eye, hand-based, no-controller gaming is gaining popularity. These applications use high-resolution sensors to capture the player's pictures and transmit the information to the game console in real time. The connection between the sensor and the console will benefit greatly from the USB 3.0 speed advantage.

7, USB transmission video

Given the wide application of HD or 3D media content on mobile handsets, the next logical use model is to find a way to output content to a larger display to achieve shared browsing. This has been a challenge for the USB 2.0 system because its bandwidth severely limits the quality of the video. With USB 3.0 bandwidth, you can easily support 24-bit color 30FPS full 1080p HD, even without any compression. In addition, USB-IF is currently defining the USB 3.0 Audio-Video category to optimize HD/3D video support for mobile handheld devices. The USB 3.0 interface speed also makes it possible for multimedia content to be transmitted, including video, audio and meta data. Given the introduction of the USB 3.0 specification for mobile handheld devices, system integrators will no longer need to purchase additional HDMI connectors, which are cumbersome and do not provide battery charging after they are connected.

Other interesting usage models in the video industry include connecting multiple displays simultaneously and sending different content to each display, while other interfaces cannot support this application. USB 3.0 also supports bidirectional synchronization of content streams. There is no theoretical limit to the number of channels that can be sent over a physical connection. USB 3.0 bandwidth supports up to approximately 500 channels of DVD quality video (up to 6Mbps via 3Gbps pipe) and about 100 channels of HD quality video (up to 30Mbps via 3Gbps pipe).

A new application that allows handheld devices to be plugged into larger monitors and keyboards, such as Webtop, will require a faster connectivity solution to provide a seamless user experience. USB 3.0 is ideal for this type of application due to increased bandwidth and low-power functionality. In addition, future displays, such as televisions and displays, will no longer be required to be "smart" (versatile). Mobile phones can connect these displays to provide "smart" (multi-function) and drive displays.

USB 3.0 will compete with existing mobile device interface solutions (such as MHL and HDMI), but USB is clearly a more popular and widely used interface. USB 3.0 meets the long-awaited need for high-definition content on mobile handsets and is designed and positioned as an ideal solution for hd/3d content transmission and use.